Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire are 2014 remakes of the 2002 Game Boy Advance role-playing games Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, which also include elements from Pokémon Emerald. These games are part of the sixth generation of the Pokémon video game series. They were developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The games were announced in May 2014 and released in Japan, North America, and Australia on November 21, 2014, twelve years after the original release of Ruby and Sapphire. The European release followed the next week.
Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire received mostly positive reviews from critics. As of September 30, 2024, over 14.63 million copies have been sold worldwide, making them the fourth most popular Nintendo 3DS games ever.
Gameplay
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are remakes of third-generation games. They include changes from later generations, such as the type split from the fourth generation and features like unlimited TM usage and triple battles from the fifth generation. The games also include gameplay elements from Pokémon X and Y, such as Mega Evolution, Pokémon Amie, Super Training, and the Player Search System. A special feature called "Primal Reversion" was added for Kyogre and Groudon, which works similarly to Mega Evolution. Players can ride Latios or Latias to fly above Hoenn, and some areas in the game can only be reached by using this feature.
Setting and story
The setting and story of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are similar to the original Ruby and Sapphire games. The story begins with the player character traveling in the back of a moving truck, moving from the Johto Region to the Hoenn Region with their mother. Their father, Norman, has been hired as the Gym Leader of Petalburg City. The player arrives with their parents at their new home in Littleroot Town, a village on the southern edge of the main island in Hoenn. The player starts their journey as a Pokémon Trainer by helping Professor Birch, the leading expert in Hoenn, escape a wild Poochyena. The player chooses one of three Pokémon—Treecko, Torchic, or Mudkip—to protect Professor Birch. After defeating the wild Pokémon, the player receives the chosen Pokémon as their Starter Pokémon. The player then travels across Hoenn to complete the Pokédex and battle the region’s eight Gym Leaders.
During the journey, the player encounters Team Magma in Omega Ruby or Team Aqua in Alpha Sapphire. These groups aim to use the power of the Legendary Pokémon Primal Groudon (in Omega Ruby) or Primal Kyogre (in Alpha Sapphire) to reshape the world. Team Magma wants to use Groudon to dry up the oceans and expand land, allowing humans to advance. Team Aqua wants to use Kyogre to flood the land and return the world to a prehistoric state, giving Pokémon more freedom. Unlike the original games, Archie and Maxie use the correct orb in their respective versions, leading to their Primal Reversions. With help from Hoenn League Champion Steven Stone and Gym Leader Wallace, the player defeats the opposing team and either captures or defeats the Legendary Pokémon to prevent extreme drought or heavy rain, allowing the teams to reform. The player then challenges the Elite Four and Steven to become the new Hoenn League Champion. Players can also participate in Pokémon Contests across Hoenn, where they use their Pokémon to perform for judges and audiences.
New features include 20 additional Mega Evolutions added since Pokémon X and Y, as well as Primal Reversions for Groudon and Kyogre, which work in a similar way. A new side quest called the "Delta Episode" appears in both games. In this quest, the player teams up with a new character named Zinnia, along with Steven and Professor Cozmo, to stop a meteor from crashing into the planet. This mission also requires capturing the Legendary Pokémon Rayquaza to prevent the meteor from releasing the Mythical Pokémon Deoxys.
Release
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were released in Japan, North America, and Australia on November 21, 2014. This was twelve years after the original Ruby and Sapphire games were first released. The European version came out the next week. These games are the third set of remakes in the franchise. The first was FireRed and LeafGreen for the Game Boy Advance in 2004, and the second was HeartGold and SoulSilver for the Nintendo DS in 2009. Like Pokémon X and Y, these games include translations in all official languages. Earlier games only had certain languages based on the region where they were sold.
Reception
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire received mostly positive reviews from critics. According to OpenCritic, 89% of critics recommended the games. GameSpot’s Peter Brown praised the 3D visuals and the super training feature but thought the game did not fully fix some problems in its design. IGN’s Kallie Plagge highlighted the 3D remake of the Hoenn region and the online features. However, she criticized the large number of HMs required to play the game, the imbalance that favored Water-type Pokémon, and the reliance on water-based areas. She noted that the Dive feature was new when the game first released but had become repetitive over time.
At the 2014 Game Awards, the games were nominated for Best Remaster but lost to Grand Theft Auto V.
The games sold 3,040,000 copies in their first three days of release. Of these, 1,534,593 copies were sold in Japan, while the rest were sold in North America and Australia. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire had the largest launch in the series history in the United Kingdom, surpassing the previous record held by Pokémon Black and White. By the end of 2014, the games had sold 2.4 million copies in Japan. As of March 31, 2023, a total of 14.57 million copies had been sold worldwide, making them the fourth-best-selling Nintendo 3DS titles of all time.